Lessons
Class Introduction
12:55 2Photo Basics
04:03 3Basic Camera Controls
03:33 4Exposure Modes
20:29 5Top Deck Additional Features
05:29 6Exposure Bracketing
04:14 7Exposure Compensation Metering And Flash
18:50 8Viewfinder
12:31Live View And Movie Mode
23:52 10Autofocus Area
10:16 11Quick Menu
03:48 12Play Back
06:13 13Memory Cards
06:33 14Left And Right Of Camera Features
04:48 15Bottom And Front Of Camera Features
03:23 16Lenses
07:35 17Shooting Menu
10:45 18Lens Aberration Correction
04:31 19Multiple Exposure And Image Type
07:06 20ISO Speed Settings And Noise Reduction
10:22 21Mirror Lockup And Dust Delete Data
03:43 22External Speedlite Control And Anti Flicker
06:36 23AF Method Shutter And Metering
04:45 24Movie Menu
11:36 25AF Menu
23:09 26Playback Menu
07:43 27Setup Menu
24:13 28Custom Functions Menu Part 1
14:28 29Custom Functions Menu Part 2
19:48 30My Menu
05:04 31Camera Operation
09:47Lesson Info
Photo Basics
Alright so, I had questions as to whether I should include Photo Basic. It's something I have in all of my Fast Art classes, and so we're gonna breeze through this a little bit more quickly. If you know your camera pretty well and you've been in photography for a while, feel free to skip to the next section; we're just gonna cover a few very basic things about cameras here. So this is a single lens reflex camera, which means we have a single lens on the camera. We have different lenses, wide angle lenses, telephoto lenses and in each of the lenses is an aperture unit that you can open and close to control the amount of light coming in the camera. There are lenses that go all the way down to 1. in aperture from Cannon but 1.4 to is a pretty common range that you'll see. 22 allows in the least amount of light and 1.4 is gonna allow in the most amount of light on a lens like this. So beyond controlling the amount of light coming in the lens, it also controls the dept of field. So if you ...
set an aperture of 1.4, you are gonna get relatively shallow depth of field. You can see those red hash marks over on the right hand side indicating the front edge and the back edge of focus. As you stop your aperture down, you get more depth of field. It's not a huge difference from one setting to the next, but it does eventually grow and become pretty significant difference between one end of the spectrum and the other end of the spectrum. So here at f/22 we're getting a lot of depth of field. As light come in, we get to the reflex portion in single lens reflex, which is the mirror and devices with mirrors are often called reflex devices. It bounces the light up to the focusing screen and from there it bounces the light up through a prism system so that you can easily see what your lens is pointed at. When it's time to take a photo, you press the shutter release, the mirror needs to get up and out of the way so that light can get back to the image sensor. But, before it gets there it needs to get past the shutter unit, which has two parts, it's a 1st Curtain and a 2nd Curtain. The 1st curtain is blocking the shutter, or blocking the sensor, excuse me. It opens up, lets light in to the sensor, that's your exposure, and then the 2nd curtain comes in and blocks it off and then the whole thing resets when the mirror comes down. And it uses this system so that each pixel is exposed for exactly the same amount of time. So the shutter unit itself is another way of controlling the amount of light coming in the camera and we have a variety of shutter speeds, from one-eight thousandth of a second down to 30 seconds. And these can be used for either controlling the amount of light, or stopping the action of subjects that are moving, or stopping the movement of you holding the camera. One of the most important things about any camera on the market is the size of the sensor in the camera because that has a great deal to do with the image quality, and how it works, and what size it is, and what sort of lenses and other accessories are gonna work on it. The Cannon 1DX Mark II uses what is commonly known as a full frame sensor, it's the same size as a piece of 35 millimeter film. So for all those photographers that were around during the switchover from film to digital, it was much more convenient just to be able to get all your old lenses and put them on your new digital camera and have them working exactly the same. Other manufacturers and other cameras throughout the Cannon lineup will use smaller size sensors. Oftentimes with special lenses designed especially for those small size lenses and you want to be careful about which lenses you select for this camera; because those smaller ones will not work on the camera. So that's just a few basics. If you want to know more about that sort of stuff, I do have a class called Fundamentals of Photography. It's a five day lecture series with about 24, 27 hours of information on it and so you can check that out at CreativeLive.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Fred Innamorato
John does a great job as usual. He provides so many visual aides and demonstrations which really helps you understand how to operate and set up your camera. His step by step explanation of the entire menu and each tab is excellent. In addition to his many photography tips and instructions. What an excellent class and a great value for all the detailed instructions provided. Much better than the manual you get in the box. Plus you get to watch this as many times as needed. I highly recommend this course and all of John's other classes.
Joe Berkeley
I quite enjoyed John's course on the 1DX mark ii. To be frank, I should have taken it 122,000 shots ago when I bought the camera. I learned quite a bit. There were only a few occasions when I thought my cranium could explode. But I walked away from the course with some great tips and in the grand scheme of things, the money I invest in education is always more valuable than the latest and greatest camera strap, lens, or bag. It will probably take a few months for all of the information to sink in but I'm feeling good about what I learned and the price I paid for it. All in all, a good value.
Ian Sherratt
Great video. Loved the clear explanations, great views and mixture of video and slides. Iāve read a lot of manuals and books on settings and use of various Canon cameras but this is the first time Iāve really understood the full range of functions.
Student Work
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